Demand for digital and cloud skills grow: Peoplebank

The August to October 2014 quarter has seen a steady growth in the demand for IT employment as businesses continue to work through their digital transformation projects, according to Peoplebank's latest research.

The latest IT salary and employment index has shown that over the past quarter, the demand for IT employment has been strongest for professionals with cloud and digital skills, as well as pockets of demand for infrastructure skills as organisations expand their overall capacity.

The index also showed that overall demand is being driven by new projects in the banking sector. The sector, especially in New South Wales, is hungriest for business analysts with payments and infrastructure projects, and digital/mobile domain experience, as well as for project managers with agile skills.

NSW also had the strongest growth in demand for IT employment quarter on quarter. Compared to the May to July quarter, there was a 20 percent improvement.

Annual salaries for permanent roles, for the most part, have also remained unchanged since March 2013. The only changes were recorded in senior business analyst roles in the Australian Capital Territory that saw an AU$5,000 dip between January 2014 and October 2014. Additionally, those in senior SAP or senior CIO roles in Adelaide were the only ones who received salary increases.

Peter Acheson, CEO of Peoplebank, said that while IT industry growth is outperforming the broader economy, demand is shifting rapidly away from traditional IT roles towards digital and cloud.

"While the ICT industry is in the box seat — in terms of being an industry that's increasingly at the centre of corporate planning — it's clear that the sector is in a state of flux," he said.

"Many organisations are restructuring their IT departments, making some roles becoming redundant and creating new roles that reflect the new drivers of growth, especially the priority of leveraging digital technologies that help improve the customer experience."

The index showed other trends, including revealing that organisations, especially in Victoria and South Australia, are beginning to convert contractors into permanent employees.

Meanwhile, due to this shift, the ACT saw salary rates increase as those who were previously contractors worked to recoup their 7 percent salary hit due to the change.

Acheson said the lift in trends reported this quarter is an overall indicator that the demand for IT skills in 2015 will continue to rise.